The Only Boy in Ballet Class: A Story of Courage

Reviewed by Lee Anne Phillips
  leeanne@leeanne.com

The Only Boy in Ballet Class,
  by Denise Gruska (Author) and Amy Wummer (Illustrator)
   Published by Gibbs Smith, 2007 http://www.gibbssmith.com/
    Reading level: Ages 4-8
    Hardcover: 32 pages
    ISBN-10: 142360220X
    ISBN-13: 978-1423602200
    Dimensions: 9.8 x 9.6 x 0.4 inches

The Only Boy in Ballet Class is a perfectly charming book, wonderfully illustrated by a prolific artist, but it's also an important story for young children about coming to terms with your true self and expressing the passions you really feel, even if others don't quite get it. It's a story about commitment, about perseverance, and about unanticipated rewards.

Tucker Dohr loves to dance, and not just any kind of dancing, but the difficult discipline of the Ballet. Being the only boy in a ballet class is very hard sometimes, but Tucker needs to dance, even though many of the kids in his neighborhood openly mock his participation in a "girly" activity. And if that weren't bad enough, Tucker has an uncle, equally rigid and unsupportive, who constantly carps at his dancing and urges him to take up more stereotypical activities for boys. But Tucker looks forward to his ballet classes, and doesn't give up.

He has heart, in a heartless world, or perhaps just a world burdened by the many broken-hearted people who've let their own dreams fade away, and then settled for someone else's dream, someone else's life.

Tucker is very lucky as well; his Uncle has no real say in his life, other than as a wet blanket and kibbitzer from the sidelines. His Mom supports him completely, and allows Tucker to be himself, to find his own way, and to dream his own dreams.

The illustrations beautifully extend the text of the book and make it more compelling, allowing us to see Tucker's sense of joy and fulfillment in dance, both in private moments and during public performance.

This book will be attractive to any child interested in the Ballet, and even includes a little glossary of dance terms which describes the various movements Tucker excels at. But it will also be attractive to any children who find themselves inhabiting the unknown territories at the boundaries of life, whether that be the difficult negotiation of gender roles and behavior, as in this book, or those who are fascinated with unpopular subjects — like lepidoptery, or Etruscan pottery — because Tucker does just fine. His passion turns out to be valuable in fields outside the dance studio, and he still loves to dance.

You can visit Tucker's website, and hear his voice at: http://www.theonlyboyinballetclass.com/bookintro.html

Women's Books Online Graphics and Web Pages
Copyright © 1995-2009 Lee Anne Phillips
All Rights Reserved Worldwide